San Jose paper concedes flaws in 1996 drug series

EXAMINER STAFF REPORT

Published 4:00 am, Monday, May 12, 1997

1997-05-12 04:00:00 PDT NICARAGUAN; UNITED STATES -- The San Jose Mercury News has conceded making mistakes in its 1996 "Dark Alliance" series, which detailed links between CIA-supported Nicaraguan contra rebels and the smuggling of crack cocaine into the United States.

Executive Editor Jerry Ceppos listed what he characterized as shortcomings in an open letter to readers in the newspaper's Sunday Perspective section. Among them: that in one instance the paper "did not include information that contradicted a central assertion of the series."

"I believe that we fell short at every step of our process - in the writing, editing and production of our work," Ceppos wrote. "We have learned from the experience and even are changing the way we handle major investigations."

Most notably, he conceded the newspaper's earlier implication that the link between a contra supporter and a Southern California drug dealer "was the pivotal force in the crack epidemic in the United States" was an oversimplification.

The series, written by reporter Gary Webb, tapped into a long-held belief among some African Americans that cheap addictive drugs, including crack cocaine, were introduced in black communities with the support or at least the knowledge of the government.

That charge had been repeated or suggested in many venues, including the 1995 movie "Panther" about the origins of the Black Panther Party in Oakland. But the Mercury News series supplied what appeared to be the most credible link.

Spurred by the series and resulting cries for federal investigations, then-CIA chief John Deutch took the unprecedented step in November of appearing at a public meeting in South Central Los Angeles to deny CIA involvement in crack dealing there.

The Mercury News series never specifically said that anyone in the government supported or knew of the contra-crack pipeline, but Ceppos acknowledged that "we strongly implied CIA knowledge."

"I do not believe that top CIA officials knew of the relationship," Ceppos wrote. "I believe that part of our contract with readers is to be as clear about what we don't know as what we do know."

Ceppos wrote that the newspaper solidly documented that a drug ring associated with the contra rebels in Nicaragua sold large quantities of cocaine in inner-city Los Angeles, and that some of the profits from those sales went to the Contras. And he writes that "I believe that this is a major public policy issue worthy of further investigation."

He said that a "clear implication of our series" - that the contra-related drug connection involving Nicaraguan Danilo Blandon and Los Angeles drug dealer Ricky Ross played a critical role in the crack explosion in urban America - was an oversimplification.

Other publications have quoted drug experts saying that the Mercury News exaggerated the importance of Blandon and Ross. "Blandon, the Nicaraguan ring's Los Angeles point man, was not "the Johnny Appleseed of crack in California,' as the Mercury News contended," the Los Angeles Times wrote in a lengthy piece last October.

"an established crack retailer before meeting Blandon in 1983 or 1984."

Acknowledged Ceppos: "Through imprecise language and graphics, we created impressions that were open to misinterpretation." And, he wrote, "We oversimplified the complex issue of how the crack epidemic in America grew."

Ceppos said the series occasionally omitted important information and created impressions that were open to misinterpretation. He also said the series omitted conflicting information that Blandon testified he stopped sending cocaine profits to the contras at the end of 1982, after being in operation for a year.

That information, Ceppos said, "contradicted a central assertion of the series" and should have been included.

Ceppos said that "there is evidence to support the specific assertions and conclusions in our series - as well as conflicting evidence on many points."

Declining to comment further on his letter to readers, Ceppos noted that Webb, the reporter, disagreed with his boss's conclusions and stood by his stories. But Ceppos said that after seven editors spent months examining the series, he determined "it did not meet our standards in four areas."

Ceppos wrote that if the Mercury News were to publish the series today, it would be edited differently: It would state fewer conclusions and certainties, and be clearer as to how conclusions were drawn.